Induction of beta-lactamase and penicillin-binding proteins in Escherichia coli by introduction of Streptomyces DNA.

Introduction of hybrid plasmids, which were constructed by ligation of pCR1 or pMN1 vector plasmid and SalI restriction endonuclease cleaved segments of Streptomyces cacaoi chromosome, resulted in the production of new beta-lactamase and penicillin-binding protein in Escherichia coli. The beta-lactamase and penicillin-binding protein were not from S. cacaoi but rather induced by the plasmids. Close relationship was observed between plasmids and penicillin-binding proteins but not with beta-lactamase.